BOOK THREE - promised series
Espheros is inhabited by more than just the human species. Shifters and Immortals walk the earth amongst them, hiding in the shadows.
There are some humans, however, who are very much aware of what moves through the dar...
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Grunting, I gritted my teeth. "You could have warned me," I muttered annoyed, feeling the impact on the ground vibrate through my bones.
"Defense is your first lesson and an attack cannot always be foreseen," the man said with an eerily dark voice, rumbling out of him, carried by roughened vocal cords. Like Kit before him, his movements were fluid and his attacks relentless.
He did not take it easy on me at all. Every single blow, every kick, every move came with such speed that I gasped more than I moved my body with my own will. I was being thrown to the ground time and time again. His blindness did not impair the man in the slightest and weren't I angry by being so carelessly bested without teaching me anything but defeat, I would have been amazed.
It felt like hours of torture, both mental and physically, until the assaults finally stopped, and I was able to take the first, proper breath that remained in my lungs long enough to exhale again.
Even the slightest movement hurt, and I undoubtedly broke more than one bone. I wonder if this was really what Reagan had had in mind by training.
It was more harassment than anything else!
"You must control your emotions, girl," the man chastised, apparently aware of my mood, though he couldn't see the tongue I stuck out.
"What do you know about emotions," I muttered bitterly, losing all sense of respect.
With an expressionless face and white eyes, the man stretched out his hand for me to take. I wondered if he was actually helping me up or if he'd play a trick on me to "teach" me that I couldn't trust anyone.
Opting for the second possibility and since I really did not trust him, I rose to my feet on my own. I felt the need to tell him, since he couldn't see. "I can get up on my own."
I was disappointed that the only decent person I'd met so far had been Leizer. Everyone else seemed uptight, unwelcoming and stern, void of any warmth. I didn't even want to think of Deina, the witch.
"I know a great deal more than you do, girl."
"Stop calling me girl." I folded my arms over my chest and glared at the man.
"I will stop calling you a girl once you stop acting like one."
Outraged at his accusation, I tried to bite my tongue as not to prove him right. Who'd he think he was? Apparently, rank meant nothing among their kind. Or maybe they were even less welcoming to outsiders than we had been in Everett Valley.
What was this man's deal? Why couldn't he just be nice and teach me what to do with kindness?
"You don't know the first thing about me," I retorted, offended that he continued treating me like some youngling with no knowledge of the dangers in life.
A chuckle rumbled through his chest. It wasn't a hearty chuckle. It was of mocking nature. And I disliked him further.
"What is there to know?" he asked, and I contemplated whether to indulge in it or not stoop down to answer his question at all.
